This artist's rendering shows NASA's Europa mission spacecraft, which is being developed for a launch sometime in the 2020s.NASA/JPL-Caltech

Jupiter's moon Europa has a crust made up of blocks, which are thought to have broken apart and 'rafted' into new positions, as shown in the image on the left. These features are geologic evidence that Europa may have had a subsurface ocean.NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Europa Clipper would conduct detailed reconnaissance of Jupiter's moon Europa and investigate whether the icy moon could harbor conditions suitable for life.

The proposed Europa Clipper mission would place a spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter in order to perform a detailed investigation of the giant planet’s moon Europa. Europa shows strong evidence for an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy crust and some astrobiologists believe that it could host conditions favourable for life. The mission would send a highly capable, radiation-tolerant spacecraft into a long, looping orbit around Jupiter to perform repeated close flybys of Europa.

NASA has selected nine science instruments for a future mission to Europa. The selected payload includes cameras and spectrometers to produce high-resolution images of Europa’s surface and determine its composition.

The nominal Europa Clipper would perform 45 flybys of Europa at altitudes varying from 1700 miles to 16 miles (2700 kilometres to 25 kilometres) above the surface.

Relevance to Astrobiology

A primary objective of the Europa Clipper mission would be to determine the thickness of the Europa’s icy shell and search for subsurface lakes similar to those beneath Antarctica’s ice sheet. The mission would also measure the strength and direction of the moon’s magnetic field, which would allow scientists to determine the depth and salinity of its ocean. A thermal instrument would survey Europa’s frozen surface in search of recent eruptions of warmer water at or near the surface, while additional instruments would search for evidence of water and tiny particles in the moon’s thin atmosphere. If water vapor plumes on Europa are confirmed, their composition would help scientists investigate the chemical makeup of Europa’s potentially habitable environment while minimizing the need to drill through layers of ice.

NASA Astrobiology Involvement

The NASA Astrobiology Program supports numerous astrobiologists that are involved in definition of science goals for Europa Clipper the design of scientific instruments for the mission. The Astrobiology Program also funds astrobiologists who would work with the immense amount of data returned by Europa Clipper.

The Astrobiologists
Below is just a selection of astrobiologists directly involved with the Europa Clipper mission.

Science LeadershipRobert Pappalardo, Project Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Pappalardo has been an active researcher with the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI). He is currently a member of the NAI team at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Europa Investigation LeadsDonald Blankenship, REASON Principal Investigator, University of Texas, Austin. Former PI for the Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology program element of the NASA Astrobiology Program. Member of the Virtual Planetary Laboratory at the University of Washington, supported by the NAI.

This magnetometer will measure the magnetic field near Europa and – with the PIMS instrument – infer the location, thickness and salinity of Europa’s subsurface ocean.

Europa Thermal Emission Imaging SystemE-THEMIS instrument

This “heat detector” will provide high spatial resolution, multi-spectral thermal imaging of Europa to help detect active sites, such as potential vents erupting plumes of water into space.

Europa Imaging SysteEIS instrument

The wide and narrow angle cameras on this instrument will map most of Europa at 50 meter (164 foot) resolution, and will provide images of areas of Europa’s surface at up to 100 times higher resolution.

Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for EuropaMISE instrument

This instrument will probe the composition of Europa, identifying and mapping the distributions of organics, salts, acid hydrates, water ice phases, and other materials to determine the habitability of Europa’s ocean.

MAss SPectrometer for Planetary EXploration/EuropaMASPEX instrument

This instrument will determine the composition of the surface and subsurface ocean by measuring Europa’s extremely tenuous atmosphere and any surface material ejected into space.

Ultraviolet Spectrograph/EuropaUVS instrument

This instrument will adopt the same technique used by the Hubble Space Telescope to detect the likely presence of water plumes erupting from Europa’s surface.

SUrface Dust Mass AnalyzerSUDA instrument

This instrument will measure the composition of small, solid particles ejected from Europa, providing the opportunity to directly sample the surface and potential plumes on low-altitude flybys.

SPace Environmental and Composition Investigation near the Europan SurfaceSPECIES instrument

This combined neutral mass spectrometer and gas chromatograph will be developed for other mission opportunities.